Hokie ClubBy Bill Roth
Now we have an idea of what the Virginia Tech football team will look like in 2026.
And it looks pretty good!
Since last November, the Hokies’ football program has been in a state of flux. Coaching changes, player attrition, portal additions, new schemes, and new faces everywhere.
The ‘tear-down’ and ‘rebuild’ have happened remarkably quickly under architect James Franklin. All without AutoCAD. (You architecture majors get that, right?)
Lane Stadium was electric for Virginia Tech’s 2026 Spring Football Game. Over 130 recruits and 86 former Virginia Tech players were on hand for this year’s game.
Franklin has mesmerized and energized Virginia Tech’s fan base, its recruiting pool, and its most affluent donors all at once. While that likely happens in some regard at any place whenever there’s a coaching change, this looks and feels different.
We can see with our eyes the talent level of the portal additions and the improvement Tech’s returnees have made since Franklin’s “I like guys who are high-productivity and low-maintenance” proclamation the day he was introduced as head coach.
Now as we look ahead to the summer and the ’26 season, it’s quite evident Tech has a plan. A vastly improved roster helps. So does having an experienced coaching staff that’s done this before.
“We’ve done a really good job of laying the foundation in terms of our playbooks,” Franklin told me. “We took a pretty aggressive approach to get everything in this spring and figure out what our identity’s going to be. We will do it again in fall camp and decide “Hey we’re going to major in these things and minor in these things. And what is what our identity is going to be?”
The identity on offense starts at quarterback, so let’s begin there.
Grunkemeyer, Baker, Ryan, Huhn make up the QB room.
The competition for the starting job will continue once camp opens in August, but we got a taste of what each candidate could do throughout the spring in practices and scrimmages.
QB Ethan Grunkemeyer was 13-for-17 and threw for 136 yards in Virginia Tech’s 2026 Spring Game.
In the spring game, Ethan Grunkemeyer was 13-for-17 for 136 yards and touchdown. He did have an interception that was the result of some miscommunication with wide receiver Takye Heath. On the opening drive of the spring game, Grunkemeyer, leaning on his former PSU teammate Luke Reynolds, was 5-for-5 for 66 yards including a touchdown pass to Duke transfer Que’Sean Brown. Grunkemeyer showed poise and leadership and the other intangibles you’d expect from a guy who started seven games last year for Penn State.
Bryce Baker was 15-for-27 for 140 yards and one TD in the spring game. His bootleg action, much like Grunkemeyer’s, was effective for the offense and you can see in his arm strength and mobility why he was such a highly touted QB coming out of high school.
Kelden Ryan and Troy Huhn both had their moments throughout the spring as well. In fact, it’s hard to recall a Virginia Tech team that had this much depth in the QB room.
Hokies receiver Ayden Greene stiff-arms corner back Amauri Polydor during the 2026 Virginia Tech spring game. Both are expected to be key contributors this fall.
“There’s multiple guys that on days you could make the argument that they've played well enough to be a starting quarterback for us here at Virginia Tech and in the ACC,” Franklin told me. “So I think we're going to go into fall camp with still a pretty good competition.”
Frankin insists more work and analysis needs to be done before he announces a QB1 for the fall.
“We will look at completion percentage, touchdown to interception ratio, yards per attempt, yards per completion,” Franklin said. “Also, obviously, quarterbacks may have extended plays with their feet. And then the QBR. I think QBR is a really important (metric.) Obviously, it's been used for a long time. But we use that in practice. So really, literally every throw that is made in practice is charted.”
The analytics of each of the QB’s was impressive this spring considering it’s a new system and scheme for each of them.
“We had some good flashes. We’re throwing it well, but there’s some inconsistency and that’s what happens when you first put an offense in,” Senior Offensive Analyst Warren Ruggerio told us during the spring game. “We have four good quarterbacks, and they finished out as a group at 70-percent completion percentage for the spring. We had a ton of explosives this spring too. For the first time in the system, they’re playing very well.”
Don’t underestimate the impact Ruggerio can have on Tech’s program. The veteran coach and former Delaware QB spent 11 seasons as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Wake Forest where he coordinated the most prolific offenses in Wake Forest history under coach Dave Clawson. His perspective and coaching acumen is another example of the quality of staff Franklin has assembled in Blacksburg.
Tight Ends will be a big part of the plan.
Having an offensive coordinator who was a tight end coach in Ty Howle, this isn’t a surprise. And having some elite talent in the TE room makes it understandable why any play caller or QB would rely on those guys.
Tight End Ja’Ricous Hairston makes a terrific catch in the Hokies’ spring game. Tech tight ends combined for 17 catches and 205 yards during the game.
Luke Reynolds, Benji Gosnell, Ja’Ricous Hairston, Harrison Saint Germain and Brody Jones combined for a stat sheet-stuffing 17 catches and 205 yards in the spring game. Each player bring his own skill sets to this offense which is exciting for Howle. Reynolds is elite as we knew from his Penn State tape, but the rest of the group looks dynamite too. They’ll be used in many ways this fall.
“There’s no doubt when your OC is a tight ends coach and one of your best players is Luke Reynolds, it’s going be a tight-end friendly offense,” Ruggerio said matter-of-factly.
The Hokies don’t want to be a dink-and-dunk team, and Howle had made it very clear that a vertical passing game is huge for his offense. But gosh, there’s some talent in that room that’s exciting to see.
Cornerback, defensive ends will set the tone for defensive strategy.
James Franklin has mesmerized and energized Virginia Tech’s fan base, its recruiting pool, and its most affluent donors all at once.
Our radio crew had the chance to sit and visit with Franklin in his office and go through the roster. One take-a-way? Franklin suggests cornerback development will be a key to how the Hokies scheme their ’26 defense.
“Cornerback is really going to dictate a lot of how we build this defense,” Franklin told us. “What are the strengths of our corners? Are they press man? Are they better in zone coverage? Are we going to have to play a decent amount of cover two? What are we going to major in from a secondary standpoint? And I think then everything kind of goes from there. What do your defensive ends allow you to do? What do your corners allow you to do?”
Placekicker John Love returns for his senior season for the Hokies in 2026. Love has made 54 of 64 career field goal attempts (84.4%) and all 114 of his PATs.
Although he missed the spring game, defensive end Aycen Stevens had a remarkable spring for the Hokies and carried the lunchpail throughout. Stevens, Cortez Harris, Jason Abbey, and Mylachi Williams look like four guys who could really cause problems for opposing offenses this fall.
That position could be called a pleasant surprise coming out of spring ball.
“I would say coming into this, we didn't know necessarily what we had at defensive end,” Franklin told us. “Now, I think there's some excitement about the defensive end position.
Overall
This is a dramatically different roster than the one we saw last year. It’s deeper at every position especially the QB room. Keep in mind that several players who missed this spring will likely be part of the two-deep once the season begins and there are four months of off-season workouts on the horizon as well so August should be a fun month when pre-season camp opens.
QB Bryce Baker impressed his coaches and Tech fans with his arms and legs during the Hokies’ 2026 spring football practice.
Among the take-a-ways from spring ball is also this: There’s a tremendous resurgence in Tech’s fan base. We saw that in the spring game attendance, but also in other areas including Hokie Club donations and season ticket sales. We know Tech fans are ready for a winner and we’re already seeing dividends in the investment the university has made in the program.
There were over 130 recruits at Virginia Tech’s spring game, including some of the most highly-touted high school players from around the country. There were also over 80 former Tech players at the game. The synergy between the program’s past, its future, and its fan base was quite a vibe for all involved. That’s exactly how Franklin envisioned this process.
At first glance, the Hokies are clearly more talented across the board and are deeper at nearly every position. There’s more competition at key spots than we’ve seen in a decade which should make for a tremendous pre-season camp.